


Why Don't You Run From Me

by The_Blonde_and_the_Brunette



Series: Red Dead Imagines [11]
Category: Red Dead Redemption (Video Games)
Genre: ABO, Alpha Arthur, Alpha Charles, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, F/M, I learned a bunch of new words and decided to word vomit sentences, Mating Rituals, Multi, Rituals, Scent Marking, Shifted Sex, The Chase, To Be Continued, Violent Sex, damn this got dark quick, fair warning I'm evil, god that felt weird to tag, here we go again, human reader, is being super detailed but also vague as fuck a tag?, not reader but like a memory chill, the merry hunt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-06
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-16 18:21:54
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28586406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Blonde_and_the_Brunette/pseuds/The_Blonde_and_the_Brunette
Summary: “When you’re caught,” He broke off as a visible shiver wound its way up your spine at his growl, his grip tightening for a split heartbeat until bone ground against bone. He softened again before you could gasp at the pain, head lowered to spare you the rush of emotion across the planes of his face. “And you will be caught,” firm like a promise, his grip a sudden burn as it shifted to your wrist and tugged you closer.His voice dropped to something softer, “don’t fight.”
Relationships: Arthur Morgan/Reader, Charles Smith/Reader
Series: Red Dead Imagines [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1374496
Comments: 7
Kudos: 65





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Reader is human, and there is an established relationship between them and Arthur and Charles. It's not Arthur/Charles though. It's more like two wolves sharing a chew toy idk what you want from me, its 2021 and I thought things would be completely different but no I'm still a slut for sad cowboys. 
> 
> And yes I'm aware I listen to too much Billie Eilish, thank you come again.
> 
> Also in case you didn't read my delightfully thought out tags, I'm evil and this is a wip. 
> 
> *EDIT*  
> the chaptered thing is only to let you know this is ongoing, It'll be one chapter when it's all said and done.

The night air was warm, the heat of the swamp a stickiness that clung to your skin even as the horses left the bayou behind and started the climb into the meadows. Cicadas and crickets chirped in the long, wavy grass, the slight breeze causing the heather and buffalo grass to sway in the wind as the horses moved through. Their passage through the prairie was swallowed by the grass behind them, as though ships in a roving sea.

You pulled absently at the soft cotton neckline where it stuck to your skin, feeling the latent stares the movement brought along with it, giving up when it brought no relief from the heat. The moon hung heavy and gravid in the sky, her fullness reaching out and bathing all in her soft-edged light.

A trio of deer paused, ears and tails aloft, to stare at the two horses as they moved past. Then, with a swish of a long ear, they turned as one and leaped into the darkness that hung soft and indiscreet under the eaves of ancient trees.

“You sure about this?”

Charles voice was quiet in your ear, his arms loose around your waist, his body a burning line behind you as you swayed in tandem. A marked difference from the man on top of the other horse, muscle coiled and tension thick upon his skin until it seemed to fair burst out of his seams.

“I’m sure,” you whispered back, not wanting to break the magic of the night with your lilt. You glanced over your shoulder, giving the large man behind you a little grin before your eyes flickered over to the other man, watching as he shifted in the saddle.

Arthur’s usual hazel stare was long gone, molten silver swirling beneath lowered brows. Charles mirrored the glint, though perhaps with a little less savagery than the older man. Your heart beat with feathered wings under your ribs, too caught up in the silver to slow it down as he met your curious gaze with a dangerous stare.

Arthur broke first, twisting in the saddle and rising up in the stirrups, as a distant din broke out on the horizon. He checked his horse for half a beat, chest rising with a shuddering breath-

“Coyotes,” he rasped after a moment, and you didn’t notice the tension in Charles until it smoothed out of his muscles.

You felt him nod behind you, the rasp of his cloth covered arm against your own trailing a shiver down your legs as he raised it towards a near copse of trees. “That looks like a good start.”

Arthur’s grunt of approval faded out as background noise as Charles brought Taima to a stop and shifted, arms drawing backwards to give you room to dismount.

You landed with a scuff of toe on red clay, glancing back quickly when you felt Charles’s hand catch your own. The night suddenly felt too real, details blurring as your heart thundered, and you swallowed painfully. Something almost kin to panic blossomed under your breast, bounded up your throat til you reflexively swallowed the apprehension.

Charles watched, waited. You could almost feel Arthur’s stare leveled on the nape of your neck. The quiet of the night increased tenfold, holding its breath as you struggled.

You took a deep breath, let it shakily slide between parted lips, and Charles squeezed your trapped hand. You focused on that, the rough feeling of his palm wrapped around your thudding pulse, and shook out your free limbs. The feeling settled, slumbered back down to the base of your belly, coiled and silenced for now.

“I’m good,” you whispered, just for him, though you knew that the other likely heard as well, and Charles gave you a barely there grin.

“You need to run, and run fast. Don’t slow down, and don’t over think.” You gave him another small smile, hoping he wouldn’t read too much in the feel your heartbeat pounding against the inside of your wrist, and gently twisted free, not breaking eye contact with the silver aimed at you.

“I’ll be fine, Charles. I know what I’m doing.”

“I hope so,” he murmured, before his gaze flickered over to Arthur, your eyes following naturally.

He was off his horse, form hazy and shadowed in the moonlight, but his voice was clear, hard, the rumble something you could almost feel in the air even though he had stopped several paces away.

“You set on this, then?”

You nodded again, scoffed and shoved your hair back with a barely shaking hand. “Goddamn, I’m starting to think you two don’t want to do this.”

Arthur grunted at your statement, taking another step closer so he could reach out and touch your wrist, drawing the shaky hand away from its hiding spot. “Not tryin to scare you darlin, just… wanna make sure.” He paused, rubbed a callused thumb back and forth over the ridges of your knuckles, then tried again.

“When you’re caught,” He broke off as a visible shiver wound its way up your spine at his growl, his grip tightening for a split heartbeat until bone ground against bone. He softened again before you could gasp at the pain, head lowered to spare you the rush of emotion across the planes of his face. “And you will be caught,” firm like a promise, his grip a sudden burn as it shifted to your wrist and tugged you closer. 

His voice dropped to something softer, “don’t fight.”

Silvered eyes flickered upwards to gauge how his words were hitting, to drive the point home: “There’s a whole heapin lot that could go wrong with this, but the last thing any of us want is for you to get hurt. And if you try - if- when you’re caught-”

“I’m not gonna get hurt, Arthur.” You reached up on tiptoes, kissed his cheek if only to save him from the wallow of what he was trying to ground out. The implication was there, you weren’t a fool. “I know how to tell when the game is up.” He turned his head sharply, burrowed his nose against the skin below your ear, and you let him linger for a long moment.

Charles dropped from the saddle, boots a loud crack in the night as his weight landed and sent up a roil of dark red dust, and Arthur pulled back as the breeze blew it away.

You hummed, twisted your limb free of Arthur’s barely there grip, wrist sliding away with a whisper, and started backing up, keeping both of them in your sights.

Pebbles slipped under your bare feet. Clay, baked red and hard in the harsh sunlight of the day, sticking to your soles and staining where the grassy dew clung. Clouds lunged over the moon like galloping horses, flashing darkness over the landscape in bursts, drenching both men until their forms muddied and only their eyes were left staring out.

Arthur hunkered low, hands already moving to the buckle of his gun belt, and you bolted, turning and dashing for the trees in a head long sprint.


	2. Chapter 2

The count started as soon as you touched the first shadows under the branches, heart pounding out a staccato against the curve of your ribs as you vaulted over the small creek in your way. Lungs burned as you started up the rise on the far side, a matter of mere seconds passing for you to cross the small tangle of trees.

You broke from cover, legs pounding against the ground, the moonlit grass in front of you turned into an alien silvered plain that you raced across.The long trail of your shift grew heavy from the wet grass, and with barely a change in gait you hoisted it up over the crook of one arm to free your legs.

You hit another thicket of trees, hissed when a trailing tree branch caught your arm, the cracking wood leaving long, red lines down your skin. You cursed, twisted to escape the thicket, and almost missed the first howl.

You paused, the move instinctual, gut clenching as the last of the three notes trailed off. Then, you shook yourself, cursing again, pulling sharply to free yourself and ending up sprawled on the dirt, hair a ragged halo around your head as you heaved a breath.

Hands pulled back the skin at your scalp, and you rubbed them back and forth, hard, _think think think_ , until Charles voice filtered through your panic:

_“Every second counts, and you need to cover a lot of ground. Don’t overthink, play to your strengths."_

Strengths… what strengths. The night had gotten eerily still, and you started, sitting up, somehow fearful you had missed your last two warnings. 

Heavy breathing close to you, right behind your ear, and you twisted on the clay, trying to find the source.

Another howl, causing you to gasp, that flutter of panic back now as the distinctly different cadence trailed off once more.You pressed a shaky hand to your mouth, and realized the loud breathing was your own.

A flex of fingers, scrambling across the ground, and you were up again, skirting the thicket, almost backtracking across the field as you headed in a different direction.

Strengths… What strengths, against something that could smell your fear and track your sweat. You threw a glance over your shoulder, wondering what direction they would come from, ducked down a ravine and splashed noisily in the creek at the bottom before turning against the flow.

Every nerve was on high alert, waiting, listening, starting to dread the build up as tension danced a tight, hair-raising finger down your spine.

It would be the opposite for them. For a fleeting, angry moment, you regretted begging them for this, to be marked. It disappeared quickly though, drowning in a kind of wicked acceptance of your own fragility.

You were human, at the end of the day, not a she-wolf. Chosen, yes, and claimed. But unmarked. A point that had irritated you to no end, and one that your wolves picked up on, though they seemed to view it with a certain grim understanding of your limitations, as if they had a piece of the puzzle you didn’t. No manner of begging would change their minds.

It all ended when you witnessed a marking, and by the end of it you halfway agreed with them, that it was something not for you.

_Charles tried to never be rough with you, stilted movements and softened hands to the point that even you noticed. However, his grip was anything but soft the night he caught you creeping out of your shared tent at the Gathering._

_“What the hell are you doing?” He wouldn’t look at you, however, grip harsh on your upper arm as he spun you around and pressed you back against a tree, eyes flickering back and forth along the trail._

_“I want to see, Charles,” you demanded then, pushed against his chest, irritated that your plan had been thwarted._

_“You were just going to sneak up on a bunch of wolves?” He sounded appalled, the muscles tightening along his arms until he fair vibrated in front of you._

_“Charles,” you dropped to a whisper, stared up as silvered eyes finally met your own. He seemed to debate for a long moment, anger and dread roiling in his eyes, until he started suddenly, pulling you from the rough bark of the pine and up the trail with him._

_“You stay_ **_silent_ ** _,” he stressed as you both moved down the moonlit path, “and you stay_ **_with me_ ** _.”_

_You didn’t bother nodding in acceptance, his head already turned away. He half dragged you along the path, through the other pitched tents and deeper into the darkened woods._

_A muffled step to the left, and Charles stopped suddenly, teeth bared in a snarl as he pushed you behind him._

_“Are you out of your goddamn_ **_mind_ ** _?” Arthur’s own snarl filtered through the darkness, his form a hazy shadow as he slipped out from behind a tree._

_You stiffened when a trail of moonlight flickered through the leaves above, painted him grey and silver, and revealed the blood splattered across his naked chest, the fever in his eyes, the lilt in his gait. He looked half gone, even to your eyes, swallowed up by the pull of the moon._

_“Yes,” was Charles tense reply, angling to keep himself between you and Arthur._

_The older man huffed, ran a hand through his hair, gripped it tight for half a beat, until his eyes flickered to you and he exhaled roughly._

_“Stay with Charles,” he growled, stepped to the side to allow you both to pass. He seemed careful not to touch Charles as the younger slid passed, but you could feel his breath down the nape of your neck as you were tugged along behind._

_Charles stopped in the shadow of a larger tree, letting go of your arm for only a moment as he yanked his shirt off over his head. You watched silently, Arthur a trail of heat behind you as Charles stripped in the darkness._

_Before he discarded his shirt however, he balled up the fabric and began to roughly rub it against your face, hair, wiped it down your throat and across your arms. Arthur shifted behind you, hands reaching around you to smear across in the wake of Charles’s shirt._

_You balked when his hand lifted to your face, smelling the coppery scent on his fingers, but his other hand snapped up to your hair, a low growl rattling in his chest as his grip tightened. You went limp, allowed him to rub across your forehead and nose, though you couldn’t help the grimace when both hands rubbed roughly through your hair._

_A harsh nip to your collar barely peeking out at the neck of your shirt, and he receded, half turning to watch behind you as Charles made you lift your arms so he could drop the shift over your head._

_“That’s all we can do, short of pissin on her,” Arthur’s grumble was strained, and for a heartbeat you swore Charles’s eyes flickered up towards him._

_“You’re not-”_

_Your protest was abruptly cut off, Arthur’s hand a vice across your jaw as he pulled you back against his chest. Both men froze, listening intently for a moment, before Arthur’s grip on you lightened, and then slipped down to cup your throat._

_“We’re not pissing on you,” Charles whispered, and seemed almost amused when your shoulders slumped in relief. He ducked his head, moved in close, and you tiled your head back on Arthur’s chest to watch him._

_He pressed a calloused finger to your lips for a long moment, silvered eyes checking in that you really understood, and you nodded back mutely, feeling the first flitter of butterflies in your stomach._

_Charles pulled you along again, this time with his arm half around you. As you stumbled through the dark, both men working to help you along, you slowly became aware of other noises._

_The birds had stopped their nighttime warbles. No small critters scurried through the undergrowth. Then the other sounds started._

_A howl broke through the darkness. Chattering, yipping, one time a harsh laugh echoed through the trees. You felt a shiver work down your spine at the scream of a deer, cut off short. Arthur pressed closer behind you, and you heard a distinct snarl in his throat that had your head whipping around._

_A pair of golden eyes watch you from the darkness, but the smaller wolf shifted its attention to Arthur, and then melted away._

_Charles stopped so suddenly you almost crashed into him, his arm wrapping further around your waist and pulling you further into the shadow of a tree as he leaned against it. You could feel his heart beating madly under his skin as he pulled you close, his fingers tugging on your hair until he could turn your head and you could see down the embankment the tree was perched above._

_Your breath caught, exhale ragged and warm on Charles’s skin, and felt Arthur move in close behind you. His hands braced on the tree on either side of Charles, body pushing you closer until you were sandwiched between them._

_There were wolves in the clearing below._

_Five or six, the darkness muting their markings until you couldn’t be sure who you were looking at. There was a big male though, his fur blackened with what looked like blood, his gait smooth and unhurried as he circled the others._

_There was a flurry of excitement, a scuffle that had Arthur vibrating against your back, Charles pressing you tighter against his chest. One wolf broke out from the group, beelining for the bigger male, and you almost screamed as wicked jaws snapped and exploded._

_It looked like fighting. You were almost convinced that it_ **_was,_ ** _and yet the smaller wolf survived, golden eyes a fever haze as it escaped the grip of the larger. The male gave a sharp bark, started after the smaller one, but already another from the group had slipped forward and recentered his attention with a sharp bite to his hind leg. You hid your face against Charles chest as the wolf turned with a snarl, shivering along with the maddened beat of the hearts at your front and back._

And yet, here you were nearly a year later, begging again even though you knew what it would lead to.

Damned stubbornness though. You wanted to be _theirs_. Even through the fear, you wanted it.

You exited the creek, feet and calves burning numb fire from the cold, and waited, unsure for a handful of beats, torn between finding a tree to climb or continuing climbing the hill and heading further towards the border to New Hanover.

A last, mournful howl made up your mind for you, the hairs on your arms standing at attention, and you booked it for the hill, muscles screaming anew at the adrenaline that coursed through your veins.

It felt like you were flying, crashing, burning, the wobble in your legs a grating pain as the cold numbness eased off and you could feel every stone and stick you crushed beneath dirtied soles.

Another blessed group of trees, probably the last before the sweeping, rolling hills of open prairie, and you skidded, hopped, in the end limped towards the safe shadows cast by a gnarled old oak. 

The bark was rough, broken beneath your cheek, and you clung to it, drawing in painful after painful breath, hoping you ran a good ways to tire them out, because there was no more you could ask of your legs.

**Author's Note:**

> I see you shiver with antici-


End file.
